After trying to meet with Maric, and being told it would be a couple of days, and then striking out with trying to get Lucille’s help in acquiring knowledge from the Merretta library, we then contacted Dungeon Core #715 he is the dungeon core whose dungeon runs through the Adra capital of Toran.
Belinda and I have prepared to receive him and his boss monster at the neutral zone, in hopes to be able to get him to agree to help us gain the knowledge from the books in the Adra library. I don’t know anything about Dungeon Core #715 other then his name which is Irthos. He did sound quite enthusiastic about meeting with me when I sent him a message however.
He seemed quite worried when I mentioned sending a [Gate] to him to arrive at the place of our meeting, but when he learned it was at the place the Elders meet with other dungeon cores he seemed quite relieved.
I do have to open [Archjusticar Menu] to get his location and the why it looks, but when I look in on Dungeon Core #715 the sight I see is quite hard to take… I mean he did say he would only come if he could bring his boss monster, but this isn’t quite what I expected.
Irthos is kind of like Draco in appearance, but he has far less dragon like qualities. I wouldn’t call him a dragonkin because his appearance is quite human, but maybe what a dragon beastkin or perhaps a feral dragon beastkin would look like if that is even possible.
His boss monster however is a dragon… I don’t mean like my small earth dragon that amounts to a giant armored lizard, but an actual dragon. They can’t hurt me here at the neutral zone, but I don’t know if I can make a [Gate] large enough for a real dragon to pass through.
While Irthos and his boss monster stand patiently waiting for my portal to arrive he is gently petting the dragon’s head as it rubs up against him. I don’t want to message him back and say I made a mistake, but I have never tried to enlarge a [Gate] spell like that before.
I don’t even know if this room will hold the large dragon, but he seemed to know where we were going so surely he knows the size of it, and if the dragon would fit here or not. I have never tried it before but I use my Empowered Magic skill to increase the size of the [Gate] spell.
The resulting spell is twice the size of my normal portal, but even then it would be a tight squeeze for the dragon to pass through. Still watching Irthos on my screen he acknowledges the portal that arrived and steps forward.
The dragon tucks its wings up tight against its body and scrunches itself up making it a small as possible as it attempts to follow Irthos though the portal. Arriving in the neutral zone Irthos quickly greets me then quickly turns back around coaxing the dragon to squeeze though the portal.
Irthos speaks in a language that I can’t understand and it seems to cause the dragon to try harder, and it manages to squeeze though the portal. It doesn’t leave much room in the room for the rest of us but after Irthos sits down on a couch the dragon curls around it placing its massive head at his feet.
Irthos: “I really appreciate you allowing me to bring my Teku along with me, I am just not the same without her.”
“I have to say I was quite surprised to find out your boss monster was an actual dragon, and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make a [Gate] large enough for it to fit though.”
Irthos: “We have fit though many of tight spots over the years, so this was simple, she has grown a bit since then, but I just had to promise her something extra special when we return home, and that was enough to convince her she could make it. Isn’t that right Darling?” –He says leaning over to kiss the dragon on the top of the head.-
I am not sure if dragons can smile, but if it was possible I think this one just did, as it rubbed its head against Irthos’s legs… I am not even entirely sure if dragons are sentient, I know dragonkin can be sentient, but actual dragons?
Belinda: “You two seem very close.”
Irthos: “Of course, you seem to be quite close to your master as well.”
Belinda: “Well yes, but Two-Twelve is also my husband…”
Irthos: “Teku is my mate as well.”
Belinda doesn’t seem to know how to respond to that, and even I don’t know how to follow up that statement.
Irthos: “The answer is very carefully. I have been with Teku since she was smaller than I was, but I have to admit it has been quite tough the last few hundred years.”
I shake my head and then say. “To the reason we called you here. I understand you have quite a large section of Toran within your dungeon?”
Irthos: “Yes I have been very fortunate, when I placed my dungeon in Toran it was just a small settlement.”
“Is the large human library within your dungeon?”
Irthos: “You know I am not entirely sure, I tend to avoid humans because they don’t like Teku, I gather their xp but I don’t pay attention to what it is they are doing. If it is within the eastern side of Toran it should be within my dungeon however.”
Belinda: “It is pretty close to the close to the center of the city.”
Irthos: “That’s a tough one then, if you tell me which building it is, I can look into it and see if it is indeed within my dungeon.”
“It would be the large building with all the books…”
Irthos: “I have no use for human’s books, so I don’t pay them any attention. Teku can’t read you see, and she is quite the delicate little flower. I wouldn’t want to scare her will all those human stories about destroying dungeons and slaying dragons. Isn’t that right sweetie?”
After he says that he says something else in the language I don’t understand and the dragon lifts its head long enough and makes a short quiet sound almost like the coo of a dove, before rubbing its head against his leg again, and laying its head back on the floor.
Belinda: “It’s a large drab grey stone building, its taller than all the others in the area, and is probably a few hundred years old, it sits almost right in the middle of the city…”
Irthos: “What color is its roof? Teku likes to go on flights over the city when it is dark and the humans can’t see us. She likes the dancing lights of the city below.”
Belinda: “I don’t know… I didn’t pay much attention to the roof.”
Irthos: “I can use [Menu] here so let me look though the screens and see if I can find a building filled with books.”
Irthos spends quite a bit of time going through screens, and I keep an eye on the one watching him so I can see the screens he is looking at, because I am not too sure he would even know it if he seen it. I also determine his boss monster must at least have some sentience, because he often will say something after looking at a particular screen.
Even though the dragons presence it quite intimidating its eyes always look to Irthos with a sense of yearning that shows as much care for him as he seems to have for it. I can’t say it makes the situation any less creepy, but they both seem extremely happy so I guess if it makes them happy who are we to judge…?
When he finally comes across a screen displaying the library he almost moves past It, and I am about call out to stop him there, but he then seems to realize it as well.
Irthos: “I think I found the building you are looking for.”
“That is great, that means it is within your dungeon then.”
Irthos: “What is it the Elders want with a bunch of old human books anyway?”
“Well I am looking into some information regarding Faron’s death, and they might prove useful.”
Irthos: “Well I would be glad to help the Elders in any way I can.”
The screen of him that I am watching shows him messing with the screen displaying the library, and before I can say another word all the books in the library disappear, and the humans displayed on the screen seem to begin to panic.
“Wait! What are you doing?!”
Irthos: “I thought you needed the books? –he says rather confused looking over his shoulder as if to see if someone is looking over his shoulder, and Teku raises her head to see what is going on.-
Belinda too seems a little surprised at my sudden outburst.
“If you take all the books out of the library like that the humans will begin to panic.”
Irthos: “Well they are in my dungeon, so they will have to get over it, or they could come play with Teku and me.”
“Well the damage is done now… I will try to return them quickly, but I might as well use them first. I will cast another [Gate] spell and if you will just drop the books through the portal it would be a big help.”
Irthos nods and pets Teku’s head… I cast [Gate] making the portal flat against the ground while having the other end of the portal open up in the one of the huge rooms on the bottom floor of my dungeon. Humans haven’t still made it that far so they should be ok there until I can send them back to Adra…
Irthos then starts dumping books though the portal. I start to wonder if even this huge room in my dungeon will be enough to hold them all, moving the minotaur and other monsters from the room just so they don’t get crushed.
Not being stored neatly on the shelves the books look to be in a far greater quantity then they did while stored away in the library. Finally the number of books dropping through the portal slows and then ceases all together and Irthos looks quite satisfied.
“Well that is not exactly how I planned for this meeting to go, but it works none the less. Is there something I can do to compensate you for your help with the matter?”
Irthos: “Oh no, as long as I have Teku I am just fine. I am just glad I was able to help the Elders in any way that I can. I have spoken to Elder Faron quite a few times over the years since he placed his imitation crystal in the city, so I am glad I can help nail Dyson to the wall.”
“We are not exactly sure if Dyson was responsible for Faron’s death, but I hope maybe some of these books might be able to help.”
Irthos: “Well [Menu] said it was Dyson, so I don’t know how much clearer it could be, and I doubt musty old human books would bring any insight to the matter.”
“Well thank you again, and we will return the books as soon as we are done with them.”
Irthos: “Oh you can keep them if you like.”
“I think they have better means to store them in the library, so we will return them, but if you do need something in the future and it is within my power just say the word alright?”
Teku coos again and Irthos slams a fist into his hand like he just had a brilliant idea…
Irthos: “You are so smart my lovely! Teku said she heard a rumor that you can summon dragonkin and even a small earth dragon. Is that true?”
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“Well I learned the dragonkin I can summon are very low on the evolutionary line, but yes I can summon a few, and I can the small earth dragon as well.”
Irthos: “Teku and I love collecting dragons, so do you think you could pay us back with a pair of each?”
“The dragonkin would be of no problem, but the small earth dragon would have a really high xp cost.”
Irthos: “Teku kept telling me to talk Gala into trading me a few of them before that human killed her, but I couldn’t convince Gala to give one up. Maybe we can come to another arrangement for the earth dragons soon, and just have a few dragonkin then?”
I don’t want to say that I was the one that killed Gala, and that is the very reason I can summon the earth dragons… Irthos seems rather strange, but it might be beneficial to us in the future if he does have more types of dragons other than just Teku, so it might be a good idea to come to an agreement.
“I am fine with giving you a couple of dragonkin for the help you gave us today, and if you really are interested in a couple of earth dragons I might be inclined to help for further trade.”
Irthos: “Did you hear that Teku! We might still be able to add the earth dragons to our collection!” –Teku seems to be smiling again, if you can call it that, while cooing again.-
“You said you have a collection of dragons? What other types of dragons can you summon?”
Irthos: “Unfortunately most of the other dungeon cores will only trade us one, so I haven’t learned to summon very many, but I have managed to learn to summon a feathered serpent and a low tier water dragon!”
“How long tier are we talking about here?”
Irthos: “Oh they are barely 45,000xp, well that is for the water dragon, but the feathered serpent is 75,000xp. That is only because wind is a hard element for me to summon.”
“If you are interested, I would have to check to see if I have the available xp, but if I do I will summon you a pair of earth dragons for one of each of the feathered serpents and the water dragon. I would also be interested in future trades.”
Irthos quickly jumps up, and then jumps around the room a few times flapping his wings while even Teku’s head seems to follow him bobbing happily.
I don’t want to disappoint him now… I am sure we have enough xp, but just to be sure I send a message to the bunnies, and tell them I wish to summon two earth dragons in exchange for two new types of dragons.
Their reaction I would imagine is something along the lines of what Irthos is doing right now. Needless to say they told me they would work it into their figures. The next part is the actual summoning of the monsters. With Teku taking up most of the room it is quite difficult, but having them pass though [Gate] is far easier than it was for Teku so we manage to get the exchange complete.
Both of the dragons Irthos summoned for me are serpent like dragons. The feathered serpent looks mainly like a giant bird like snake, without any feet to and only a large pair of feathered wings, its head however is more dragon like in appearance then that of a snake.
The water dragon is much more snake like with long scaled hide and even with the dragon like head it could easily be mistaken for just a giant snake. I had to cast another [Gate] spell just to transport them to my dungeon as the room full of books wouldn’t hold the two massive serpent like dragons as well.
Summoning a male and female dragonkin was simple enough, but the earth dragons where a bit more difficult, but we managed to get them transported to Irthos’s dungeon as well. I can’t say this is anything near how I expected this day to go, but I am not going to complain.
After the second earth dragon passes through the portal into Irthos’s dungeon he kisses Teku on the lips and she then runs her tongue across his entire face…
Irthos: “This is a great day indeed! Teku told me to tell you thanks, you can’t even begin to understand how excited she is to increasing our collection!”
“Well not only the books, but the feathered serpent and the water dragon will be a big help to us as well, I should thank you.”
Irthos: “If the Elders need anything else from Teku or I don’t hesitate to ask, especially if you manage to come across any new species of dragons!”
“I will keep that in mind.”
I then empower one more [Gate] spell and after Teku squeezes though the portal Irthos offers one more thanks before disappearing into the portal as well.
“Well they were a unique bunch…”
Belinda: “He looked part dragon himself, but even still a humanoid and a dragon… They looked really happy together, so I guess that is the important part.”
“She seemed sentient to a degree, but I don’t know just how sentient she is, she did seem to look at him with quite fondness if that’s what you want to call it.”
Belinda: “We better get back and take care of these books, before Toran gets in a proper uproar.”
I nod, and we return to our own dungeon.
New Monsters Available
Feathered Serpent Cost: 50,000xp* Weak Water Dragon Cost: 50,000xp*
Irthos’s costs were different than mine, but I guess that is due to me not having a favored element. They both seem to be equal to the small earth dragon so it seems like a fair trade indeed. Now for taking care of the books.
I store the massive amount of books in the dungeon inventory and receive a huge list of new items available. I briefly scan through the list and most of the books range from a few xp to a few thousand. It really does seem to be a good that we don’t have to summon copies for each one, because with the massive list it would take well over a million xp even though the vast majority of the books are only a 5 to 10 xp apiece.
I prepare some clothes and then summon another human scholar like person wanting them to have the complete knowledge of the books stored within my dungeon inventory. I left everything random again, except the age as I didn’t want to end up with another older man or woman.
The human woman that appears is still older, but she is still somewhere between the age of Madeline and Belinda’s father. Belinda quickly helps her get dressed before we speak with her.
Woman: “Greetings Master, I understand your wanting of me to be knowledgeable, but do you think it was necessary for me to have the knowledge of every book stored in your dungeon inventory. Some of them are quite strange…”
“We didn’t know which books would be relevant, and we need to return the books quickly, so I thought this would be the best course of action.”
Woman: “Well I understand I guess, but what am I going to do with knowledge about demi-human mating rituals, or seducing barmaids? That doesn’t even mention the countless books that seem to have no point to them.”
“Maybe we should have just focused on the books related to the old gods, but nothing to be done about that now. I would like to speak to you more about what of the old gods you know, but for now let’s try to find a way to get these books back to Toran.”
Woman: “Understood Master.”
I don’t have a way to return the books other than the [Gate] spell but I want to do it a bit more orderly then just dumping them in the center of the library like Irthos did. It takes several castings of [Gate] but I send though the books in several large stacks, a few fall from the stacks when they hit the floor in Toran, and it will take months for them to reorganize them again, but it is by far the best we can do.
I don’t know how the Toran residents are going to react to the books suddenly disappearing and then reappearing in a heap in the library. If we find the time we might have to send someone to check it out to make sure nothing gets out of hand.
Irthos took the books in a matter of seconds, and I moved them from the dungeon floor to the dungeon inventory in the same amount of time, but returning them took far longer, and a few hours have already passed before the last book is returned.
“That took far longer than I anticipated, and I am almost completely out of magic…”
Belinda: “I could have sent some of the books back myself.”
“I managed to get them all sent back, so that is the important part. I just feel sorry for the work that the library staff will have to do now.”
Belinda: “I am wonder how they are going to try to make sense of what happened.”
“Although I do feel partly responsible, it was really Irthos that did it, and it is inside his dungeon, so it is his problem I guess.”
Belinda: “I don’t think he really cares…”
“I tend to agree, but we also have our own problems to deal with as well.”
Woman: “Master, what is it you would like me to do?”
“We will find something for you to do, but in the mean time we have some questions about what you might now about the old gods.”
Woman: “If it was written in the books in Toran then I can recite it for you, but that is about it.”
“We are having some people bother us that claim to serve several of the old gods and we were hoping you could help us at least figure out which ones it is, or if it even is one of the old gods.”
Woman: “I can try.”
Belinda gives the woman the name Melody and we move from the dungeon back to the house. Kaelmathis and Azami have the living room tied up so we head to the dining room, and while we talk Belinda prepares us all something to drink.
I am not sure what exactly Belinda made for them to drink but I can smell the sweetness from across the table, but they seem to enjoy it so that’s what counts. I fill in Melody about the information we have on the old gods and then she seems to mull it over a bit.
Melody: “Well that isn’t a lot to go on… Now Ceres is a name that has popped up a few times within several of the books, but often she was the object of worship herself not serving another. Her appearance however sounds quite different then what you described.”
“The Mage’s Guild spoke of Ceres being around for quite a while, but to say older then the dungeon core elders even? Maybe it is just a name taken by the one that serves that particular god, like a title of sorts?”
Melody: “It is a possibility, there are also books that state for a god to appear among humans they need a body to enter or a being in which they can use the form of while here.”
Belinda: “Then you are saying that it is possible that Ceres is a god or goddess herself?”
Melody: “In a manner of speaking, but all of this knowledge is from a simpler time however, so we can’t even be certain how truthful it is.”
“Well on the off chance that it is true, in the mentions of Ceres was she one that humans feared or helped humans?”
Melody: “She always seems to appear in time of great turmoil, but always seems to appear on the side of humans. It never states that she outright helps the humans either, it has even been mentioned that she might be the cause of the turmoil only appearing on the side of humans to see how things play out. Those accounts however are rather small, and most humans have seemed to show favor towards her.”
“Well that is more information than we had, but I can’t be sure if it helps us at all. You can’t find anything that might link the other one we mentioned to one of the old gods?”
Melody: “These accounts are all older then dungeons themselves, so beastkins were not even around then, so there is no way to link that to any one god. The dragonkin might be a clue, but the old humans worshiped a lot of the old dragons as gods themselves, so there is no telling if any of them were actual gods or not. If you just go by the list of gods that disregard human life the list is longer then the dragons that were worshipped.”
“Ceres did mention that Blaise who is going through the library in Merretta might find the answer eventually, so maybe the answer lies in Merretta instead of Adra.”
Melody: “I am sorry I didn’t have the answer you seek.”
“No, you can only know what is written in Adra, so it isn’t your fault.”
Melody: “If there is nothing else you wish me to do I wouldn’t mind assisting in Merretta if you like?”
“I wouldn’t want to force it on you, but if you want to, I am sure we can arrange it.”
Melody: “I think I would, I would also like to compare notes with what this, Blaise, has uncovered as well.”
We make the preparations and then take Melody to Merretta and introduce him to our other scholar. They don’t seem to meet eye to eye on very much, but the debate between them seems to have them both enthusiastic, and before Belinda and I return home they are already diving into more books.
Belinda: “I think I made up my mind on what I want to do with the inn now that the soldiers have moved in to the garrison.”
“Turn it into a library…?”
Belinda: “We could put a library in it, but no. I was thinking a school.”
“Well Tobes already has a school, it isn’t very big, but it gets the job done I think.”
Belinda: “No, I am speaking of a scholar’s school, or advanced learning. The school here and even the ones in the capital just teach children the basics. Look at my siblings. They all had to go to Adra to receive a higher education.”
“What brought that on?”
Belinda: “I was thinking about the way Melody learned about everything in the books in Adra’s library. We could summon teachers to cover different subjects summoning them with as much information about that particular subject as possible. It would be a great benefit to the lives of the people of Gowen.”
“If it is something you feel strongly about I am sure we can manage something, but right now we have so much on our plates as it is.”
Belinda: “There is no rush, but I really regret not getting the same schooling as Mindy and the others, I wouldn’t want our daughter to have to miss that kind of opportunity as well.”
“I am not sure how fast our child will even age, but that should still take years before she would be ready for something like that.”
Belinda: “Well I know, but I keep thinking of things I want for our daughter, and if I want it for my daughter I am sure others feel the same. If we have the means I think we should do what we can to the betterment of Gowen.”
“We would have to gather lots of information about each particular subject, so I guess in our free time we can do that, and once this matter with the old gods and Faron’s death is over we can see about making your school.”
Belinda gives me a kiss and says. “Thanks. I know it seems out of the blue, but I really do think it would be a great idea.”
“We don’t have to limit to mundane subjects as well, we could fold Sofia’s lessons into it as well as see if the Mage’s Guild wanted to get involved, and it could have a little something for everyone. If the teachers are our monsters we could also use it for further help the dungeon like we do with Sofia’s lessons teaching them to respect the dungeon.”
Belinda: “I don’t quite think the inn would be quite large enough for all that…”
“Tobes is constantly growing, but there is still room all over, and we don’t have to use your old inn, we could build a new building maybe by the Mage’s Guild, or over by the Garrison. The hardest part is removing the trees, but the same trees also work for building material, so it isn’t even much of a problem.”
Belinda: “I was just thinking of something simple, but you make it sound like it should rival Adra’s collage.”
“If we are going to build it I don’t see any reason in just making it just passable. If we do it, I think we should do it to the best of our abilities.”
Belinda: “We need to tell Logan and Father about the baby soon, maybe we can bring up the plan for building it to them and see what they think.”
“Well let’s get our meeting with Maric over with first and then we can worry about that.”
Belinda: “I am starting to think you might be scared to tell Logan and Father about me getting pregnant…”
“They both know I am a dungeon core, and that it should be impossible for me to have children, so yes, maybe I am a little worried about how they will react to the news.”
Belinda: “If anything they will be mad at me, and not you.”
“Everyone else’s reaction seemed to bother you quite a bit, and I just didn’t what you to have to go through that again, especially with Logan and your father.”
Belinda wraps her arms around me and gives me a deep kiss. “We will have to tell them eventually, and once we clear up the misunderstanding it will be fine.”
“If you say so… But I still think we should wait till after our meeting with Maric.”
Belinda laughs and gives me another kiss. “Alright, we can wait a few more days.” She then drags me off to bed.